Falmouth libraries offer e-book assistance

For the second year, Falmouth's public libraries are offering one-hour tutorials on how to check out library books by downloading them on tablet devices.

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By SEAN TEEHAN

capecodtimes.com

By SEAN TEEHAN

Posted Dec. 31, 2012 at 2:00 AM

By SEAN TEEHAN

Posted Dec. 31, 2012 at 2:00 AM

Class schedule

Classes on electronic readers are free but participants must register in advance by emailing Peter Cook at pcook@falmouthpubliclibrary.org, or by calling 508-457-2555,ext. 2941. The main li...

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Class schedule

Classes on electronic readers are free but participants must register in advance by emailing Peter Cook at pcook@falmouthpubliclibrary.org, or by calling 508-457-2555,

ext. 2941.

The main library is at 300 Main St., Falmouth. The East Falmouth branch is at 310 East Falmouth Highway.

Kindle

1 p.m. Thursday Falmouth Public Library

1 p.m. Jan. 8, Falmouth Public Library

3:30 p.m. Jan. 10, East Falmouth Branch Library.

iPad and Android

1 p.m. Jan. 9, Falmouth Public Library

7 p.m. Jan. 9, Falmouth Public Library

11:30 a.m. Jan. 16, East Falmouth Branch Library

iPad

7 p.m. Jan. 16, Falmouth Public Library

Nook

10 a.m Jan. 15, East Falmouth Branch Library

1 p.m. Jan. 17, Falmouth Public Library

7 p.m. Jan. 30, Falmouth Public Library

Top 10 most circulated CLAMS e-books

The following are in alphabetical order.

"A Wanted Man," by Lee Child

"The Round House," by Louise Erdrich

"Notorious Nineteen," by Janet Evanovich

"Gone Girl," by Gillian Flynn

"The Racketeer," by John Grisham

"50 Shades of Grey," by E.L. James

"Flight Behavior," by Barbara Kingsolver

"Defending Jacob," by William Landay

"The Twelve Tribes," of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

"Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power," by Jon Meacham

» Social News

FALMOUTH — You need help using your new iPad? They have a class for that.

For the second year, Falmouth's public libraries are offering one-hour tutorials on how to check out library books by downloading them on tablet devices. The advice works for patrons of any Cape library on the Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing system, or CLAMS.

"A lot of grandchildren will give them to their grandparents, so we do a lot of one-on-one training," said Jill Erickson, Falmouth Public Library's head of reference and adult services. "It's like teaching people to read."

Thirty-five libraries across Cape Cod and the Islands began offering electronic versions of books through CLAMS in 2008, said Eileen Chandler, CLAMS' member services manager.

Reading books on portable, touch-screen devices has grown exponentially in recent years. A study from the Pew Research Center released Thursday suggests that 33 percent of Americans over the age of 16 currently own either e-book readers or tablets, compared with 6 percent in 2010.

A similar trend is apparent in electronic book rentals in Cape and Islands libraries, which has seen its e-book and audio rentals through CLAMS rise each year from about 31,000 in 2009 to 132,656 so far this year, Chandler said.

"We've never seen such a rapid growth in material in that short a time," Chandler said.

The sessions were inspired by the growing numbers of people asking for assistance borrowing books on Kindles, iPads and other e-book readers and tablets they received as gifts during the holidays, Erickson said.

When they held sessions last year, so many people attended — as many as 45 in some cases — that this year they require people to register ahead of time. They have limited class sizes to 15 people for each of the 10 sessions.

With demand for e-book rentals from libraries on the rise, the only problem with the new media, Erickson said, is that several of the largest book publishers refuse to sell their books in electronic format to libraries.

"The six major publishers make it difficult, if not impossible, for libraries to rent e-books," Erickson said. A petition on www.ebooksforlibraries.com currently has nearly 12,100 signatures from people asking all publishers to sell their e-books to libraries.

Although tablets such as the iPad have many functions, the Falmouth Public Library's classes teach people only how to use them to rent library books. Librarians also are happy to help library visitors with technological problems.

"It really makes the reference department's life easier," Erickson said. "Sometimes even if they just get the basics, it's much easier to help them."